IHG to Add 300 China Hotels Within Five Years and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

China’s 1.3 billion people need more places to stay as they increasingly hit the road and a plan by the parent company of Holiday Inn hotels to build 300 new hotels to house these mainland travellers leads today’s real estate headlines. The booming mainland economy also figures into stories on Hong Kong once again leading the ranks of the world’s most expensive offices, and the struggles of China’s growing billionaire class to find suitable trophy residences in the SAR. All these stories and more await you below.

InterContinental Hotels Group will accelerate expansion of its hotel chains in China as the British multinational hospitality company plans to open hundreds of more hotels in the country, IHG senior executives told Yicai Global in an exclusive interview.

The UK-based hotel group, which has thousands of hotels all around the world, is currently in the preparatory process to open at least 300 more hotels in China, which means that in the next three to five years, the number of hotels run by IHG in the world’s most populous country will nearly double, Kent Sun, chief development officer of IHG China revealed during the interview. Read more>>

The rent is due, the rankings are out and it’s another year at the top for Hong Kong, the most expensive office market in the world.

Occupancy costs – which include rent, local taxes and service charges – for the city’s notoriously pricey Central district are 30 percent higher than in London’s West End, which took the No. 2 spot in a survey by CBRE Group of prime office real estate in the first quarter. Read more>>

Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation (0066) is to invite expressions of interest from property developers today for a site near Wong Chuk Hang Station, which will provide up to 1,200 residential homes.

Phase three of the Wong Chuk Hang Station project has a total gross floor area of 1.5 million square feet, including 1 million sq ft for residential use and 500,000 sq ft for retail space. Construction of the project is expected to be completed in 2024, surveyors expect the site could fetch HK$20 billion, or HK$13,000 per sq ft in terms of gross floor area. Read more>>

It’s a task that vexes every self-respecting billionaire from China’s mainland: finding a suitable mansion in Hong Kong. The former British colony is a small place, and the stock of billionaire-worthy residences hasn’t kept pace with the exploding ranks of mega-rich mainland buyers. The two Mas, Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma and Tencent CEO Pony Ma, have risen to the challenge in different ways.

Jack’s approach to the problem has been straightforward. In 2007, three weeks after Alibaba’s $25 billion IPO, he shelled out $38 million for the five-bedroom, 7,000-square foot penthouse of a luxury development in Hong Kong’s Mid-Levels district. The purchase worked out about $5,400 per square foot, a record for Asia at the time. Read more>>

While co-working companies account for just under 1.8 mn sq ft of the 41 mn sq ft annual commercial office space transactions volume, expansion plans of major players and the increasing appetite for this format from occupiers, property owners and co-working operators is expected to see annual transaction numbers triple from current levels over the next three years, says a new report by Knight Frank.

As per Knight Frank estimates, co-working firms accounted for 1.8 mn sq ft of space in 2017 and in the first quarter of 2018, they accounted for 2.0 mn sq ft, the report says. Read more>>

CapitaLand’s wholly-owned serviced residence business unit, The Ascott, has opened its first property in Nantong – Ascott Harmony City Nantong – and its fourth property in Suzhou – Somerset Baitang Suzhou.

The Ascott Harmony City Nantong is the first international-class serviced residence in the city and located in the financial hub near the Nantong Railway Station with direct access to the metro interchange station that is slated for completion in 2020. Read more>>

New World Development, one of Asia’s most celebrated developers, announces today the naming of the most ambitious project to date from its ground-breaking K11 Group: K11 Musea, a new museum-retail complex situated in the heart of Hong Kong’s US$2.6 billion Victoria Dockside development.

The new landmark K11 Musea – a name inspired by A Muse by the Sea for its retail concepts – will anchor the 3 million-square-foot, art and design district at Victoria Dockside in Tsim Sha Tsui, while also doubling as a new ultra high-end experiential retail, art, cultural and dining destination when it debuts in 2019. Read more>>